First cities announce Chief Heat Officers

Miami-Dade County has named Jane Gilbert as its first ever Chief Heat Officer.

It is understood to be the first position of its type globally. Athens in Greece and Freetown in Sierra Leone have pledged to also appoint Chief Heat Officers, and more cities are expected to follow.

Gilbert, who previously served as Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Miami from 2016 to 2020, will co-lead an interagency Heat Health Task Force to be formed this summer and co-ordinate efforts to protect people from heat.

“In Miami-Dade County, we know heat,” said Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “As the impacts of heat grow, they are further compounded by hurricanes, floods, and sea level rise. And we know extreme heat does not impact people equally – poorer communities and Black and Hispanic people bear the brunt of the public health impacts. Appointing Miami-Dade’s first Chief Heat Officer will help expand, accelerate, and coordinate our efforts to protect people from heat and save lives.”

Last year was Earth’s hottest year on record, according to NASA. In the US, heatwaves are already the leading cause of weather-related deaths.

Heat plan

Over the next six to ten months, Gilbert will work with the local Resilient305 network to create a heat plan which will help residents and employers to better manage heat risks and reduce urban heat. It will include projects such as the installation of shade structures at bus stops and cool pavements, and the expansion of tree-planting programmes.

Along with the Office of Emergency Management, Gilbert will also work to identify centralised cooling centres, where people can escape the heat in the event of power outages.

The position is contracted by the Miami Foundation with funding from Miami-Dade County, the Adrienne Arsht Rockefeller Resilience Center and others. It is initially for 12 months but Miami-Dade County intends to establish a permanent role.

Heat action champions

Miami-Dade County, Athens and Freetown are the founding members of the City Champions for Heat Action (CCHA) initiative, which is a programme of the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance (EHRA), organised by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center.

Kathy Baughman McLeod, SVP and Director of the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, said: “Heat is the biggest threat that the climate crisis offers, and we do not have a handle on it. Every level of government will need a Chief Heat Officer as leaders begin to better understand, quantify, and act to combat this silent killer.”

Mayor of Athens Kostas Bakoyannis said extreme heat is one of the greatest threats to liveability and economic prosperity in the Greek capital.

“I am committed to prioritising our resilience to this growing challenge alongside fellow city leaders in joining City Champions for Heat Action,” he commented. “Athens, and the rest of the world, is ready for our Chief Heat Officers to steward us towards a cooler and safer future.”

Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Mayor of Freetown, said that by joining CCHA and naming a Chief Heat Officer, she is seeking to “build dedicated capacity to protecting vulnerable people and livelihoods from rising temperatures and to help build a culture of preparation and prevention.”

Image: Resilient 305